READING 1 LIVERPOOL FC 1

It's difficult, however, to put forward the same argument when a lowly outfit like Reading, struggling in a division below us, show more skill, ability, and most worryingly fight, than one of the supposed best teams in Europe.

Let's not kid ourselves, the display against Reading, in particular the second half, was shocking.

We defended set pieces pretty well, and Torres has some moments of sharpness, but other than that, what else can we grasp on to?

The experiment of playing two full backs on the left hand side has to stop.

Insua is having such a crisis of confidence that it would be best to leave the lad out for a few weeks.

I was a big fan of the Argie earlier this campaign. He seemed to be really solid and showed a real willingness to get forward.

And he has an ability to swing in a good cross, like for Gerrard's barnstorming header against Wolves.

But in the last couple of months, Insua has lost the plot. His positional sence is awry, any winger with a modicum of pace or trickery waltzes past him, he consistently barges players to the floot in unnecessary situations, and his Riise-like left footed one-sidedness is massively limiting.

To compound our mediocrity on that flank, many of us our failing to see the wisdom of playing Aurelio as a left winger or midfielder.

He gave us, and he gives us, very little. I'm not the Brazilian's biggest fan as a left back, but left mid is no kind of a solution.

What's the alternative though? People are starting to clamour for Babel now...again. Have we forget how utterly forgetable his displays in a Red shirt have been?

Yes he might have pace to burn and a booming shot, but that pace is never ignited and the shot never booms.

Riera? Maybe. But he's got a habit of getting injured, and a habit of drifting through games doing not very much.

There isn't really a great alternative, other than spending a bit of cash in January, and that looks extremely unlikely from our Scrooge-like, suddenly frugal, say-one-thing-do- another American owners.

There was really poor Liverpool football everywhere you looked on Saturday. Kuyt's touch verges on the chronic at times, and our central midfield had no sort of control on the game.

It's about time we started getting some displays of authority from Lucas, rather than pesky, nuisance value, getting your foot in, performances.

After all, he is likely to be part of Brazil's squad for the World Cup. Surely that should guarantee some sort of pedigree?

There were, furthermore, some worrying signs from Aquilani. It wasn't the easiest game to come on as a sub for the last 25 minutes, but he looked like a lost sheep. #

Time and time again, he was sacked, American quarter back style, caught in possession, or sen hurriedly shovelling the ball away as hungry Reading midfielders pounced upon him.

Granted, there are some concessions we should make for the Italian, namely that he is still yet to reach full fitness after his injury, and he needs time to get used to the helter sklter pace of the Premier League.

But that aside, shouldn't £18m of Serie A, Italian international-capped ability overide those concessions? Shouldn't the class and ability on which you've built you're reputation around steer you safely through testing times like this?

Worrying to say the least.

We were really under the cosh at times on Saturday. Reading's bevy of Icelanders seemed to much for us. Darby at right back was one of the few positives.

It lookes like that position is his for a month at least with Johnson crocked, Carra unkeen to play there, and Martin Kelly injured.

On a night of endless negatives, this was one of the few chinks of light.

Bottom line, there were no superstars in the Reading line-up, yet they exerted a pressure and a control on the match that seemed beyond our superstars, beyond players bought for sums of £9 (Kuyt) £6 (Lucas) to name a couple, along with a host of others valued at prices that hardly seems fathomable now.

How we needed Mascherano to snarl around the central areas in this game. How we needed a second striker to give Torres some effective support, and pose a threat to a largely untroubled Reading backline.

How we needed wide midfielders to go at a struggling Championship outfit with pace and invention.

Many jusitifably thought this was the moment to push on strong after the hugely promising away at Aston Villa. But it seems even that confidence boosting victory might have been a flash in the pan.

Still, Leeds beat Man Utd. There's still things that can make us smile.